Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Rohingyas

These are the people in the Arakan region of Myanmar( ex-Burma) who had settled in this region of Burma some centuries ago.

However, in these modern days also the Myanmar majority strictly is of the opinion that they are not of any race of Myanmar

True, but in modern days, any race, group or equivalents that have lived in an area for centuries, are naturally considered to be belonging to that area or the country ( in this particular case it is Myanmar)

Rohingyas are not allowed to vote

must get travel permission to go out of their allotted region

Even being Muslims, the need to assume Myanmar like names to get favours

They need administrative permission to get married(otherwise thier marriage is punishable by Myanmar's law)

Please See the Star Tribune article on plight of Rohingyas

Who are they?

Bengalis or Kala(as slurred by Myanmar's peace loving Buddhists or just human beings?

Let's find out what history has to say.
The Refugee Council Link Refugee Council

This is What Star Tribune has to say about Rhingyas Pls Click to go to site
I'll quote here in case the online newspaper does not carry the news any more
"

BANGKOK
- They have been called ogres and animals, terrorists and much worse — when their existence is even acknowledged. Asia's more than 1 million ethnic Rohingya Muslims are considered by
rights groups to be among the most persecuted people on earth. Most live
in a bizarre, 21st-century purgatory without passports, unable to
travel freely or call any place home.

In Myanmar, shaken this week by a bloody spasm of violence involving
Rohingyas that left dozens of civilians dead, they are almost
universally despised. The military junta whose half-century of rule
ended only last year cast the group as foreigners for decades — fueling a
profound resentment now reflected in waves of vitriolic hatred that are
being posted online.

"People feel it very acceptable to say that 'we will work on wiping
out all the Rohingyas,'" said Debbie Stothard, an activist with the
Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma, referring to hyperbolic Internet
comments she called "disturbing."

The Myanmar government regards Rohingyas mostly as illegal migrants
from Bangladesh, despite the fact many of their families have lived in
Myanmar for generations. Bangladesh rejects them just as stridently.
"This is the tragedy of being stateless," said Chris Lewa, who runs a
non-governmental organization called the Arakan Project that advocates
for the Rohingya cause worldwide.

"In Burma they're told they're illegals who should go back to
Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, they're told they're Burmese who should go
back home," Lewa said. "Unfortunately, they're just caught in the
middle. They have been persecuted for decades, and it's only getting
worse."

That fact was made painfully clear this week as Bangladeshi coast
guard units turned back boatload after boatload of terrified Rohingya
refugees trying to escape the latest violence in Myanmar's Rakhine
state. Rohingyas have clashed with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, and each
side blames the other for the violence.
The boats were filled with women and children, and Bangladesh has
defied international calls to let them in, saying the impoverished
country's resources are already too strained.

A few have slipped through, however, including a month-old baby found
Wednesday abandoned in a boat after its occupants fled border guards.
Three other Rohingyas have been treated for gunshot wounds at a hospital
in the Bangladeshi town of Chittagong, including one who died.

The unrest, which has seen more than 1,500 homes charred and
thousands of people displaced along Myanmar's western coast, erupted
after a mob dragged 10 Muslims off a bus and killed them in apparent
retaliation for the rape and murder last month of a 27-year-old Buddhist
woman, allegedly by Muslims.
On Thursday, Rakhine state was reportedly calm. But Rohingyas living
there "very much feel like they're trapped in a box," said Phil
Robertson of Human Rights Watch. "They're surrounded by enemies, and
there is an extremely high level of frustration."

The grudges go back far. Bitterness against the Rohingya in Myanmar
has roots in a complex web of issues: the fear that Muslims are
encroaching illegally on scarce land in a predominantly Buddhist
country; the fact that the Rohingya look different than other Burmese;
an effort by the former junta to portray them as foreigners.

Across the border in Bangladesh, civilians — not the government — are
more tolerant. But even there, the Rohingya are largely unwanted
because their presence in the overpopulated country only adds to
competition for scarce resources and jobs.

Myanmar's government has the largest Rohingya population in the
world: 800,000, according to the United Nations. Another 250,000 are in
Bangladesh, and hundreds of thousands more are scattered around other
parts of the world, primarily the Middle East.

Human Rights Watch and other independent advocacy groups say
Rohingyas are routinely discriminated against. In Myanmar, they are
regularly subjected to forced labor by the army, a humiliation not
usually applied to ethnic Rakhine who inhabit the same area, Lewa said.

The Rohingya must get government permission to travel outside their
own villages and even to marry. Apparently concerned about their numbers
growing, authorities have also barred them from having more than two
children.
In 1978, Myanmar's army drove more than 200,000 Rohingyas into
Bangladesh, according to rights groups and the U.S. Campaign for Burma.
Some 10,000 died in squalid conditions, and the rest returned to
Myanmar. The campaign was repeated in 1991-1992, and again a majority
returned.

The Rohingya last garnered world headlines in 2009, when five
boatloads of haggard migrants fleeing Myanmar were intercepted by Thai
authorities. Rights groups allege they were detained and beaten, then
forced back to sea, emaciated and bloodied, in vessels with no engines
and little food or water. Hundreds are believed to have drowned."

I never knew being a Business Analyst is whatever I am doing now and whatever all those great things I did previously.

Some of the things were inherently part of my job without me knowing it. In previous jobs any new venture excited me so much so that I'd spontaneously reply to my superiors that it can be done.

For me it was and it still is a "can do" attitude.

Working for a variety of fields within one's own field gives you that inherent feelings. I'd learnt about Ubuntu Linux as early as the beginning of January 2005. Tried it, it installed fantastically - faster than any Microsoft based Windows starting with 98. Because in almost any version of Linux, one does not have look for the "license Key"and tediously input them -- letter by letter -- number by number. It not only annoys one, it takes a significant amount of one's time.

My earlier attempts with RedHat Linux 7.0 was not that successful. Then again I was trying to install RedHat Linux on a AMD K6 3D Now machine with 160MBRAM, 4GB HDD. I am surprised that Knoppix on that old m/c from the CD. I am sure'Ill be able to carry my bootable Linux pendrive in my pocket soon. Oh, yes, of course with the Pocket OpenOffice.

Recently I've used Linux based DIA (a Visio equivalent and without the Microsoft's huge price tag). In some cases I guess it is better. One can not only draw Flow diagrams, also UML for Use Cases diagrams, Network diagrams, Network symbols.

My first assignment as Business Analyst was to prepare a Business Requirement case on Web based Golf Score Reporting Systems for my contract manager at ISE. He was surprised how easily I could do it with Linux based OpenOffice, Dia, GIMP to manipulate any images and even port the Business Specifications to Microsoft platform easily.

Yes, I am Open source enthusiast. I thank all the Open Source community all over the world in their beliefs of Open Source software. Their earnest efforts have kept our hopes not alive but thriving in this competitive world controlled by some(not all) of the rich, influential, extensive profit seeking and dominating enterprises.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Shawn,I am sorry that you had to go through these hate comments. At least I, being from Bangladesh, welcome you to Bangladesh. Currently I am in Toronto, the place you are from. Apart from hate comments, you did not put up some good comments. I am sure you had some.

With the fertile land, Bangladesh; $2 earning per day is a huge income for a lot of Bangladeshi people. Unlike US or Canada, the Government does not highly tax people( no tax at all for these low income groups). The tax in Toronto is 13%(was 15%) on almost everything. Whether one has a job or not, one has to pay taxes(which is a hghe revenue to the Government). The Government can in return fund capital based project(may be your one too).Car insurance is the highest in Toronto. I was assessed to pay S300 per month to get my car with the only driver being me. Where this huge easy money of insurance goes, even Government does not intervene ostensibly proving how they want to get involved in easy money earning by some favored companies.

As a country Bangladesh is a great country. I say this because I've travelled both east and west. The cost of living is low, climate is extremely favorable. One can live in Bangladesh with US$100(hundred) per month easily. But that applies to locals only. You would not be able to stay in Bangladesh even if you are given US$3000(three thousand) per month. My belief, because you are accustomed to Toronto living.

Any way welcome to Bangladesh. It is a great country. You are welcome to stay at my place when I am in Bangladesh (I am planning to go back to Bangladesh)

Friday, December 05, 2008

Yesterday and today the Canadians saw unprecedented political turmoils. Canadians, I am sure, has not seen anything like this for years, maybe in living memory.The Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, sought the permission of the G-G(which is by the way is Michelle Jeane(I hope my spelling is right), to prorogue the parliament. So no parliamentary session till January 26 of next year. As far as I can remember, just six months back the Canadian Prime Minister was telling the Canadian that unlike the south of the border,

the Canadian economy was in strong shape

that Canada has surplus budget

the Canadian banking system is the best in the world and,

our financial institutions are on solid fundamental base.

indicating that the meltdown like that of Lehman Brothers, will not happen here.

Well, so much for his words, six months later, Canadian economy is going towards recession (two consecutive terms of negative growth), the auto sector is crumbling, even telecom giant Nortel is laying off people.

Today, that is the December, 04, 2008 with the parliament prorogued, Stephen Harper faced the press. All the media CBC, Globaltv, citytv, CTV gave coverage to the prime minister's press conference. When it came to the oppositions' press/media conference, only CBC covered the media conference for Jack Layton of NDP and afterwards that of LDP's Stephen Dion.